Sanitize well!

No disasters yet (cross my fingers), but I am pretty careful with sanitizing my equipment and bottles. Good thing too because the bottles I used this time were from a friend's uncle's bar. I hadn't looked at the bottles too carefully -- figured I would use them when I needed them. Next time I will pre-clean any bottles I get. Not only did the bottles smell moldy, but several had pea-sized furry lumps growing in the bottom. Ugly.

I cleaned every bottle with dish detergent and the bottle brush, blasted them with the bottle washer, sanitized with C-Brite, and then used the dishwasher (wash/dry, heat cycle). Maybe overkill, but I figured better play it safe.

The folks at the Homebrewers' Livejournal coincidentally have a discussion today about different sanitizing techniques. The oven method sounds intriguing.

Bottled be the IPA

Remember how I said that I planned to use the secondary fermenter for the IPA? Well, it didn't happen. If I had racked to the secondary immediately upon my return from California Saturday, it might just have been possible. But, as it is, I realized that after 13 days in the primary fermenter, I might as well bottle.

FG of 1.006, making it just about 4% alcohol by volume. Planning to crack open the first bottle the week of May 9th.

Going up this Sunday to Hunter Mountain for the Tap New York craft brewers festival. This will be my first festival, and I am excited to be going with the NYC Homebrewers Guild. This will also be the first time I will attend an event will my local group (been traveling every other time).

The next beer will be the Altbier. Secondary fermentation and lower temperature fermentation (55-65 F) required. That will be a challenge. I think that if I use a wet towel over the fermenter plus a fan it should be cool enough.

Reading and Festivals

When I have a bit more space at home, I will get multiple beer batches going at the same time. In the meantime, I can read, and marvel at how many creative options there are for brewing beer. Home Brewers' Journal continues to be a great source of information. This recent post on all-grain and extract brewing received loads of comments with interesting book recommendations. Time to expand my brewing library!

Time to plan a trip to a beer festival as well. Beer Advocate has a good calendar of upcoming events. Brazen Head's ninth cask ale festival is this weekend in Brooklyn. The following weekend may have to be at Hunter Mountain for Tap NY. I guess I know my plans for the next two weekends!

The IPA has begun!

Good to be brewing again! Managed to shorten the time to only three hours start to finish this time. I had actually planned to wait until tomorrow to brew, but circumstances turned out to be extremely favorable to brew tonight.

My original plan was to activate the yeast smack pack (Wyeast # 1028XL London Ale) early in the day, and let it warm to room temperature and then pitch it into a starter. I figured that if the yeast grew with a starter overnight, I could get brewing tomorrow early evening with a healthy amount of yeast.

At noon I activated the smack-pack by bursting the internal pack of nutrients so the yeast had food to grow (at room temperature). By 3 p.m. the pack was completely inflated, so I guess the yeast was plenty active. I decided to call Ray at Keystone to ask if I needed a starter. He said that he does not use a starter with the smack-packs unless the yeast is old or he is brewing something high-gravity, like a barleywine. Since the yeast seemed very active, I decided to begin tonight.

The recipe ingredients: 6.6 lbs. Munton's Extra Light Malt Extract, 3/4 lb. Munton & Fison Crystal Malt 60º L, 1/2 lb. Munton & Fison Carapils Malt 20º L, 1 1/2 oz. Kent Goldings U.K. Hops (bittering), 1 oz. Kent Goldings U.K. Hops (Flavoring), 1 oz. Fuggles Hops (finishing), Wyeast # 1028XL London Ale. I used Poland Spring water this time (to save time).

One special ingredient I tossed in addition to the recipe: 1 cup Montana wheat. As I mentioned in the previous post, this is the wheat my brother gave me for my birthday, celebrated in Bozeman, Montana.

Again, Ray from Keystone came to my aid and gave me the right proportion. He said he always throws in a cup of wheat in his beer. It promotes good head retention, and a smoother texture ("mouth-feel"). Sounds good to me! Ray suggested I come in to get the wheat milled at Keystone (it comes in uncracked grains). Since I could not make it out there today, I asked if there was any way I could do it myself.

The answer was yes, a rolling pin could do it, but that is pretty tedious. Some people use a blender, but if you grind the wheat too finely, all you have is flour, and that makes a gummy mess. I decided to use a new coffee grinder (never had coffee in it), and grind very lightly. Then I sifted the results to get the smaller particles out. I added the cracked wheat in a muslin bag with the other specialty grains.

As I said, everything went quickly this time. The only surprising thing was again the low OG of 1.037. I remembered to take the gravity before adding yeast, and I made certain to knock bubbles off, but it seems low all the same. Maybe the problem is that I am using the plastic hydrometer case for the as the container in which I take the measurement? Don't know. The alcohol content of the Pale Ale and the ESB were good, so I may just have to take it on faith that this one will be as well.

The plan is to let this stay in the primary for a week or more until the fermentation has slowed, and then transfer to a secondary. First time racking to a secondary, so I am excited to see the results!

Only minor issue in procedure this time: I opened the freezer and a tub of ice cream fell into the sanitizer bucket, splashing me and the kitchen. No damage done, but that is some really clean ice cream!

Speaking of well-traveled...

Since the last post I have been traveling nearly non-stop - four towns in seven days - Bozeman, MT, New York, NY, Bethlehem, PA, Herndon, VA and back home early this morning. But I am excited to catch up and brew my first IPA (and my third batch!).

Part of what makes me enthusiastic about this brew is I plan to add some real specialty grain from Montana! My brother Ewan and sister-in-law Meredith gave me a Wheat Montana 5 lb. bag for my birthday! Not certain about what proportions I will use yet, but I am really looking forward to the results.

I get to use my brand new PET plastic secondary fermenter for this batch too! I am really curious to see how much of a difference a secondary fermentation will make to the taste. One advantage would be to have a couple batches going at once. (hmm...) The main reasons are to clarify the beer and condition it as well. One can condition the beer in a secondary for up to a couple months I understand. Longer if cold!

Congratulations to my friends Rondal and Tuly on the birth of their first son! I may have to name a beer after him. :-)

Well-traveled = yeasty; plus removable labels

Writing today from Big Sky country celebrating my birthday weekend. The NYC ESB made the long trip from its hometown to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Several car and plane trips later, the yeast was quite well re-suspended in solution and did not noticeably settle after several hours in the fridge. I imagine that given time it will, but we didn't wait and polished off four of the six last night.

No one minded the yeast flavor, and no one experienced any unusual calls of nature - I am starting to think that is a myth. While I prefer less yeast in my beer, I had to admit it was still quite good.

All hail Avery no. 6464! Lissa had the inspiration to use removable labels for both the NYC ESB and whatever was left of the Midnight Pale. They come off clean so there is that much less to do come bottling time.

BTW, the ESB goes very well with barbequed emu and bison!